Israel carries out new strikes in Gaza, UN chief says many trapped in north

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed in overnight military strikes on Gaza, Palestinian medics said on Wednesday, as Israeli forces pressed on with a raid on the Jabalia refugee camp in the enclave's north.

The Israeli military says the raid, now in its fifth day, is intended to stop Hamas fighters staging further attacks from Jabalia and to prevent them regrouping.

It has repeatedly issued evacuation orders to residents of Jabalia and nearby areas, but Palestinian and U.N. officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had received unconfirmed reports that dozens of Palestinians may have been killed in Jabalia and other areas of northern Gaza, but is unable reach them because of Israeli bombardments.

"At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee Agency (UNRWA), posted on X on Wednesday.

"Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp. Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in #Gaza is safe."

Lazzarini said some UNRWA shelters and services were being forced to shut down for the first time since the war began and that with almost no basic supplies available, hunger was spreading again in northern Gaza.

"This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the #polio vaccination campaign for children," he said.

Israel did not immediately comment on Lazzarini's remarks. Israeli authorities have previously said they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions.

OVERNIGHT STRIKES

Israel's military, which is also in conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, says Hamas militants use residential areas as cover in the densely populated territory, including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this.

In one Israeli strike overnight on a house in Shejaia, a suburb of Gaza City, nine people of the same family were killed, medics said. The rest of the dead from the overnight strikes were killed in central areas of the Gaza Strip.

Israel began its offensive against Hamas in Gaza after fighters from the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, the Gaza health ministry says. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the enclave has been laid to waste.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Timothy Heritage)